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Does Parliament really need more shock jocks?

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 pm, July 14th, 2026 - 12 comments

Michael Laws and Paul Henry are planning a return to Parliament. Laws as a potential New Zealand First MP and Henry as an Act MP. Does Parliament really need more shock jocks?

Latest poll – too close to call

Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, July 14th, 2026 - 57 comments

The latest RNZ Reid Research Poll suggests that the chances of Christopher Luxon needing a new job after the next election are increasing.

A Very High Impact Climbdown by Minister Bishop

Written By: - Date published: 5:57 pm, July 9th, 2026 - 21 comments

Minister of Transport Chris Bishop has now finally admitted that National’s 2023 election promises in transport were “very ambitious, ” and pushed many of them into simply future unfunded ideas, at devastating economic cost.

Simpleton Brown: an idiot about power

Written By: - Date published: 1:14 pm, July 9th, 2026 - 7 comments

I was struck by just how out of touch Simeon Brown is with the frustration of residential consumers of electricity. The ever rising prices, the frequent outages, and the stupidity of our electricity market. National’s fast-track doesn’t address any of that, nor their minuscule solar plan. Labour’s plan is a more useful fast-track to transform our real productive economy. Far more so than just exporting profits offshore from mining and data centres

Labour: Solar without the Upfront Cost

Written By: - Date published: 10:38 am, July 9th, 2026 - 25 comments

This is a very impressive policy from Labour

Where the Fight Against the DSS Bill Now Stands

Written By: - Date published: 10:11 pm, July 5th, 2026 - 1 comment

On Thursday, Victoria Coleman handed over a petition at Parliament calling for the Disability Support Services Bill to be scrapped — 16,458 signatures got in five weeks while she cares full-time for her seven-year-old son Levi. Campaigning on top of that responsibility tells you whats at stake for thousands.

Opportunity knocks.

Written By: - Date published: 9:17 am, July 3rd, 2026 - 115 comments

Denmark produces excellent beer, world class design, unmanageable open sandwiches and an object lesson in the operation of proportional representation. A particular interest in Denmark is triggered by the emergence of the Opportunity Party as a possible threshold party in the NZ system. It may, at a stretch, arrive at 5%, which, as commentators have […]

Chris Hipkins: Vote for hope and optimism over fear and division

Written By: - Date published: 7:59 am, June 29th, 2026 - 14 comments

Chris Hipkins’ speech at the Labour Party conference yesterday

With friends like NZ First …

Written By: - Date published: 12:27 pm, June 27th, 2026 - 6 comments

This week Tama Potaka announced the Government will backtrack on a proposal that would have allowed for the sale of up to 60% of the country’s conservation land. But Shane Jones then completely undermined the announcement by talking about using Conservation land for mining.

National panics with Kiwisaver announcement as polling crashes

Written By: - Date published: 3:52 pm, June 24th, 2026 - 21 comments

National’s recent Kiwisaver announcement, expected to cost $110 million a year, only pays back some of the savings from its erlier Kiwisaver cuts expected to save $610 million a year, and appears to be signs ofincreasing panic.

The Greens’ new tax policy: A tax system for all of us

Written By: - Date published: 6:11 am, June 22nd, 2026 - 48 comments

“Enough is enough. No more tinkering around the edges. It’s time for the super-rich to pay their damn taxes”

The Alarming Echos between Trump and Luxon on elections

Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, June 17th, 2026 - 10 comments

In the United States and in New Zealand the current administrations wish to speed up the finalisation of election results by supressing the right to vote.

National panics

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, June 15th, 2026 - 16 comments

It is strange for a party in power finishing its first term to call a media event on a Sunday just so it can attack the opposition. But this is what happened yesterday.

Which side is TOP on?

Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, June 14th, 2026 - 159 comments

The Opportunity Party which has a suite of progressive policies thinks that it can work with National, even though National’s priorities should be an anathema to it.

National intends to proceed with the LNG terminal and welch on the country’s Kyoto Protocol obligations

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, June 12th, 2026 - 12 comments

National, a party of supposed economic geniuses, will spend billions on an LNG terminal that is not needed, billions on roads of National significance whose business cases are appalling, and attack Labour for a policy that is cheap, will help ordinary people, reduce fuel dependancy and greenhouse gas emissions.

Labour’s list

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, June 10th, 2026 - 44 comments

Labour’s recently announced list contains a number of new impressive candidates and is clear evidence that the party is being rejuvinated.

In defence of the MP’s lot

Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, June 7th, 2026 - 20 comments

Surging populist thinking is compounding neo-liberalism’s dislike of the public sector and our democratic institutions.

Kamikaze Chris does Labour a favour

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, June 5th, 2026 - 31 comments

On May 21st, 2026 National’s Chris Bishop did his best to lose the 2026 general election and his Hutt South electorate.

No nukes

Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, June 1st, 2026 - 30 comments

The timing of the recent suggestion by Chris Penk that New Zealand should review its nuclear free policy makes you wonder if the Trump Administration has applied pressure to do so.

Walking backwards off the cliff

Written By: - Date published: 1:36 pm, May 22nd, 2026 - 6 comments

The coming oil shock is not just about oil. The future is baked in, and its not good. National’s backward-looking budget will make it much worse.

Do We Still Want Socialism? 

Written By: - Date published: 8:55 am, May 22nd, 2026 - 32 comments

There are still those who pine, from the readership of Jacinda Ardern’s biography, for a state that is perfectly kind, does everything with speed and authority, and brims with patrician wisdom for us all.  Her 1.5 terms held many instances in which the state operated on the extremes of control to respond to massive crises.

National wages war on the poor

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, May 22nd, 2026 - 32 comments

How cruel do you have to be to raise rents for some of our poorest citizens during a cost of living crisis?

National Is Destroying Wellington

Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, May 21st, 2026 - 13 comments

Wellington is being deliberately targeted by National and it is destroying the third largest region of New Zealand.

The beatings will continue until morale improves

Written By: - Date published: 1:24 pm, May 19th, 2026 - 73 comments

National today intensified efforts to alienate the entire public service by announcing that a further 9,000 public positions will be culled if, god help us, they are returned to power.

Should we renationalise the BNZ?

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, May 18th, 2026 - 46 comments

Winston Peters is trying to appeal to the far left by calling for the renationalisation of the Bank of New Zealand.

Constitutional outrage

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, May 12th, 2026 - 26 comments

The Government’s plans to retrospectively change the law to stop a case seeking damages for climate damage caused by heavy emitters is a constitutional outrage and shows not only contempt for the rule of law but also contempt for any action taken by a citizen against climate change.

Dirty Politics 2.0

Written By: - Date published: 9:47 am, May 10th, 2026 - 38 comments

National has engaged in a Dirty Politics style attack on TVNZ reporter Maiki Sherman in an attempt to cower the media in election year.

Does the centre left need Te Pāti Māori to win the election?

Written By: - Date published: 7:14 pm, May 9th, 2026 - 55 comments

Does the centre left need Te Pāti Māori to win the election?

Yes Test Before Getting NZ Super

Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, May 2nd, 2026 - 83 comments

Superannuation is the ultimate Don’t Go There of New Zealand politics. But unless this benefit becomes means tested rather than subsidises rich asset-hoarding old people, it is going to sink every other part of the government. 

I didn’t vote for Jacinda but can I say sorry on behalf of

Written By: - Date published: 1:15 pm, April 30th, 2026 - 40 comments

Opinion – Jacinda Ardern was a great Prime Minister and her loss was actually ours.

Crisis what crisis

Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, April 30th, 2026 - 23 comments

Christopher Luxon has responded to Winston Peters releasing emails suggesting Luxon wanted to support the US invasion of Iran by dressing him down publicly. The Government is clearly in crisis.